Ocean In Between Us
by hotaru anne
Summary: Set after 'The Box', Vaughn and Sydney wonder about that hockey game...and each other. Please R&R!


Title: Oceans In Between Us  
From series: Alias  
Author: hotaru anne  
Email: silentsenshi@hotmail.com  
Date started: 02.16.2002  
Date accomplished:   
Genre of fiction: drama/alias  
Major characters: Sydney Bristow, Michael Vaughn  
Summary: Following Sydney's caper against McKenas Cole and his group of goons, Sydney and Vaughn think over the day's events and decide to do something to get their minds off of it.   
Note: Yes, another break from my 'Acts of the Bold' serial and this is second to my angsty story 'Tear-Stained Heaven'. A little heart-lifting from the entire situation and yeah, a little fluff.  
Timeline set on: After 'The Box'  
Disclaimer: None of these characters, or the show belongs to me. ^^ And the song that I've posted in the story is from Puddle of Mud called Blurry, which is one of my favourite songs right now.   
  
  
"Hockey can wait."  
Vaughn replayed the last moments over and over in his mind from the moment he told her goodbye for that night. He had sat in the van watching the unconscious MeKenas Cole, looking out of the window and thinking about what he said. Eric Weiss, his friend, had asked him what was wrong but Vaughn just shrugged it off as fatigue.   
But there was no fooling Eric; he knew he was thinking about her.  
"Hockey can wait."  
Why the hell did I say that? He asked himself. Why the hell did I say that it could wait? The truth of the matter is that I cannot wait for this! I wait for her every week in that dark warehouse to tell her about the latest intel about SD-6 and all those other bastards that threaten our secret friendship. I wait every night sleepless in my bed, wondering where Sydney was at that moment, whether she was still alive? Was she running for her life right now? Was she fighting her way through countless scumbags? Was she in some hideous torture chamber right now, fighting for her life, protecting our identity?   
I hate standing here, waiting for some word from her, he thought bitterly as he tossed about his living room, putting down the book he was supposedly reading. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Sometimes I think I am obsessed…she's constantly in my mind. Is she some kind of sorceress and cast some kind of spell on me? I feel like I am…she's always there. Everywhere I turn, she's there.  
Maybe that scumbag Haladki was right, he thought begrudgingly as he got up to stretch his legs. He walked over to the window and looked out the window. The sun was already sinking into the sky, the colours playing out into the sky from red to violet. It was almost time. He looked at the sunset for a moment, allowing his mind to wander.   
"Hockey can wait."  
Where the hell did that come from? He winced briefly, his fingers pressing onto the cold glass of the window. He raised his eyes back to the sunset, the words still echoing in his mind. This was ridiculous, he wondered. Why the hell am I beating myself up with this? He sighed, rubbing his eyes and returning his gaze on the sunset.   
Was Sydney looking at the same sunset right now?  
Stop, he commanded himself, turning away abruptly and putting his hands on his face. Just stop, okay? Sydney has her own life to lead. She doesn't need you to constantly add to the problems around her. Just back out, man, back out from all this. Gosh, you are so preoccupied with thinking of her that you're developing a no-life for yourself!  
He walked over to his table and switched on the radio. Here, he thought, maybe the music would calm me down and pull my thoughts away from her…he sank back into his couch once again, placing the book on the coffee table and cracked up the radio with his remote.  
  
"…You can be my someone   
You can be my sea   
You know that I will protect you   
From all of the obscene  
I wonder what you're doing  
Imagine where you are  
There's an ocean in between us  
But that's not very far…"  
  
He sighed heavily, shutting the radio off. He had heard the song before on the radio while driving to work, but he never realized how it totally described his situation at the moment. He groaned, picking up the book that he had placed on the coffee table just moments before. He then walked towards his bedroom in his quaint little apartment and sat on the bed heavily. He opened the front cover and pulled out a ticket and stared at it in his hand. It was a ticket to tonight's hockey game with the Kings verses the Islanders.   
He balanced the ticket in his hand, contemplating for a moment before getting up.  
  
Sydney was sitting down on her couch, reading. But her mind wasn't on her book.  
"The Kings are playing this Sunday against the Islanders. I say we go," she had said.  
She could've sworn he smiled.  
She sighed heavily, putting the book down and looking straight into nothing. His smile was embedded in her mind like some sort of insignia or some sort of emblem that wouldn't go away. He certainly has a way with women, she thought ruefully as she sighed dramatically, if he could make me think about him often enough.   
But my mother killed his father, she then thought darkly. I feel so bad. I feel so very bad. That will always be between us. Sure, we both had our little bitchy moments when we bumped heads and stood like mules, but I was really beginning to feel comfortable with him…I guess we couldn't let go of our pasts and it led up to this moment. She sighed. Sometimes I wish we led different lives and maybe we could actually go to that hockey game…  
She picked up her remote to her sound system and flipped on the radio and lay back, closing her eyes for a moment.   
  
"…Everyone is changing  
There's no one left that's real  
So make up your own ending  
And let me know just how you feel  
'Cause I am lost without you  
I cannot live at all  
My whole world surrounds you  
I stumble then I crawl…"  
  
Sydney snapped open her eyes and abruptly hit the close button and groaned. Even the songs being played on the radio were relating back to her situation. It was like going around in circles over and over again. She couldn't understand why she couldn't pry her mind away from everything…. away from him…for just one moment.  
"Sydney?" Francie asked, coming into the room. "You okay?"  
Sydney looked up from her mild confusion and smiled at her best friend. "Oh…I'm all right."  
Francie sat down beside her. "Are you sure?" she asked seriously.  
"Why are you analysing me?" Sydney asked, sitting up straight to make room for her. Inwardly, she felt like telling Francie about everything; about SD-6, about the CIA, about her fragile relationship problem with her handler. I can tell Francie about the sudden strangeness between Will and me but I can't tell her about the impending closeness between me and Vaughn, she thought bitterly. Could my life get any worse than this?   
Francie rolled her eyes classically and gave her best friend a warily smile. "Oh, maybe because you ate that entire pint of ice cream," she replied. "I know what can make you feel better. I know that you've been talking about hockey since like, September, so I got you these." She flipped up something from her pocket and waved it in front of Sydney. "Ticket to tonight's game of the Kings against the Islanders!"  
Sydney's eyes widened as she remembered what Vaughn has told her back at the SD-6 parking lot; "Hockey can wait." Then reality brought her back down as she was reminded once again that they could not be seen together in public whatsoever.   
Sydney smiled tightly. "Where did you get that?" she asked, laughing.  
"Courtesy of a Will Tippin," she replied proudly, flashing a pearly grin at Sydney. "I won a bet against him a few weeks ago about some obscure thing that eventually led to me winning and him owing me something. The dumbass couldn't get me something more…um…what's the word? Girly! So…he game me thing." She shrugged. "So, you going or what?"   
Sydney snatched the ticket and hugged her friend tightly. "Thank you soooooo much!"  
  
The game was really good.  
Vaughn knew this was the perfect remedy. The hockey game was really good and it took his mind off all of the worldly problems. It helped him relax as he sat watching the game in one of the better seats, holding a crushing cup of root beer. Okay, so it wasn't totally relaxing, but it brought him away from certain insanity.   
A little more time in my apartment and I'd be in a psychiatric ward right about now….  
The puck skid across the clear ice and went to a Kings player.  
"Yes!" Vaughn croaked, "c'mon, c'mon….a little more…"  
The hockey player stood near the net and with a swing of his hockey stick, the puck went flying. The Islanders goalie did not know what hit him as the puck sailed straight into the net. The crowd, including Vaughn himself, shot up to their feet and started cheering for the Kings as the player skated back to their side of the rink, hooting.   
As the cheers died down, Vaughn sat back down, trying hard not to spill any more root beer in enthusiasm as he had already did. As he looked ahead to the other end of the rink where many people were seated, he saw a certain someone looking back at him. He blinked; was he seeing things? Was his eyes getting blurry that he needed glasses?   
But it was.   
There was Sydney, sitting directly in front of him at the other side of the rink. She was wearing a bulky sports jacket and her hair was pulled back, the ponytail sticking out from the baseball cap she wore on her head. She was also holding a drink in her hand as she smiled at him. Her smile was like rays of sunshine hitting him. She had seen him before he did.   
He smiled back at her.   
She raised her drink up, as if proposing a toast. He smiled again, understanding what she meant and raised his drink as well. I guess hockey was possible, he thought happily as he took a drink of his root beer at the same time that Sydney drank from hers and watched the rest of the game.   
  
  
End 


End file.
